Monthly Archives: July 2015

Jerusalem, Israel — July 31, 2015 … Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this afternoon at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, visited the family of Ali Dawabsha, who was murdered this morning in his home.

The Prime Minister said at the end of his visit: “I just came from the bedside of four-year old Ahmed Sa’ed. Sixty percent of his body is burned. We’re doing everything we can to save this young boy, give him a life. His two parents are in other parts of the Israeli health system.”

“We’re trying to give them the best treatment to save their lives. When you stand next to the bed of this small child, and his infant brother had been so brutally murdered, we’re shocked, we’re outraged. We condemn this. There is zero tolerance for terrorism wherever it comes from, whatever side of the fence it comes from, we have to fight it and fight it together.”

“I spoke to President Abu Mazen right before I entered the hospital. I told him of this visit and of Israel’s absolute commitment to find the perpetrators, bring them to justice. We have to calm the spirits and recommit ourselves to our joint battle against terrorism and extremism. It’s something that all parts of the Israeli government and all parts of Israeli society agree on. It’s important that we make a common cause with our Palestinian neighbors to give ourselves a better future – a future free of violence, free of terror, a future of peace.”

Netanyahu said he directed the Israeli security services to use all means at their disposal to apprehend those responsible and bring them to justice.

“The government of Israel is united in its opposition to terrible and heinous acts such as these,” he said, adding that – speaking for the entire country – he wanted to send his condolences to the family of the baby killed in the attack and wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured.

Israel Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon referred to the terror attack and the death of baby Ali Dawabsha as “a most severe terrorist act that we cannot tolerate, and we condemn in every way.”

He noted that all security forces including the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the IDF and police are carrying out a “supreme effort” to find those responsible, saying “we will pursue them until we get our hands on them.”

“We will not allow Jewish terrorists to harm the lives of Palestinians across Judea and Samaria. We will fight them in every way, with every tool at our disposal.”

Jerusalem, Israel — July 28, 2015 … There is good reason to refrain from bandying about the word “Holocaust” with abandon. The defining atrocity of the 20th century has to be given the gravitas it deserves. Comparing lesser events to the meticulously planned genocide of Europe’s Jews is both cheapening and a cheap trick. Indeed, invoking the Nazis frivolously is as sinful as denying the mass murder they carefully carried out.

Nevertheless, both the former and the latter have grown so commonplace that they barely elicit a yawn any more. This is the case even when they are used interchangeably — and simultaneously — by the same source, usually by Islamists, who alternate between Holocaust denial and accusing Israel of Holocaust perpetration.

Occasionally, however, a World War II analogy emerges which causes surprising levels of consternation.

Take, for example, a statement made over the weekend by former Arkansas governor and current Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. During a radio interview with Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alexander Marlow on “Breitbart News Saturday,” Huckabee attacked President Barack Obama for the nuclear agreement reached with Iran. “This president’s foreign policy is the most feckless in American history,” he said. “It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. This is the most idiotic thing, this Iran deal. It should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and by the American people. I read the whole deal. We gave away the whole store. It’s got to be stopped.”

For his veiled reference to Nazi gas chambers, Huckabee has been raked over the coals across the political and religious spectrum.

Obama, who took the opportunity to go after Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, as well, responded: “The particular comments of Mr. Huckabee are just part of a general pattern we’ve seen that would be considered ridiculous if it weren’t so sad.”

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said, “Comments like these are offensive and have no place in our political dialogue. I am disappointed and I am really offended personally.”

Jonathan A. Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, was equally angry.

He released a formal statement, asserting that: “Comments such as those by Mike Huckabee suggesting the president is leading Israel to another Holocaust are completely out of line and unacceptable. … To hear [him] invoke the Holocaust when America is Israel’s greatest ally and when Israel is a strong nation capable of defending itself is disheartening.”

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, a Republican, also chastised Huckabee.

“The use of that kind of language is just wrong,” he said. “This is not the way we’re going to win elections and that’s not how we’re going to solve problems. So, unfortunate remark — not quite sure why he felt compelled to say it.”

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer, too, expressed displeasure with Huckabee’s remarks.

“These are not words that I would use or that I think are appropriate,” he said.

Rather than backtrack or claim he was taken out of context, Huckabee doubled down.

Grilled by Fox News‘ “The Five” on Monday, he elaborated: “If we don’t take seriously the threats of Iran, then God help us all. Because the last time — it’s Neville Chamberlain all over again. We’re gonna just trust that everyone’s gonna do the right thing. Three times I’ve been to Auschwitz. When I talked about the oven door, I have stood at that oven door. I know exactly what it looks like.”

Panelist Geraldo Rivera then called him to task for presumptuousness and exaggeration.

“This was the systematic attempt by an industrialized nation to wipe out a race of people,” Rivera said. “That is different. That is unique. You may not go there, and I’m begging you to apologize and to retract that.”

“I will not apologize and I will not recant,” Huckabee retorted. “Because the word ‘Holocaust’ was invoked by the Iranian government. They used that very word.”

Huckabee is right.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, has openly called for the genocide of the Jews. Street demonstrations in Iran, particularly those celebrating the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and the taking of the U.S. Embassy staff hostage in 1979, all include chants of “Death to Israel,” alongside those of “Death to America,” and involve the burning of the flags of both countries.

The nuclear deal not only will enable Iran to acquire weapons of mass destruction within a decade (if not sooner), but it immediately hands the mullah-led regime $150 billion with which to bolster its bomb-building and other terrorist activities across the globe.

As Rivera pointed out, Hitler tried to “wipe out a race of people.” But Khamenei and his puppets make no bones about their aim to “wipe Israel off the map” — and to subjugate or slaughter all “infidels” who do not adhere to the specific version of Shia Islam that is destined to dominate the world. And the plan is already tangibly in action.

In spite of my own aversion to the abuse of imagery where the Holocaust is concerned, I see nothing far-fetched in Huckabee’s warnings. While his critics are going figuratively ballistic over his “offensive language,” Iran is literally going ballistic. With real missiles and genocidal goals.

Huckabee added: “What’s ‘ridiculous and sad’ is that President Obama does not take Iran’s repeated threats seriously. For decades, Iranian leaders have pledged to ‘destroy,’ ‘annihilate,’ and ‘wipe Israel off the map’ with a ‘big Holocaust.’ ‘Never again’ will be the policy of my administration and I will stand with our ally Israel to prevent the terrorists in Tehran from achieving their own stated goal of another Holocaust.”

The Israel News Agency completely agrees with the comparison of Nazi Germany with a nuclear enabled terror state – Iran. The birth of modern day Israel was a direct result of the Holocaust. We in Israel live as an extension of the Holocaust and swear as we enter the IDF and other Israeli security forces: “Never Again.”

It is very disappointing that a few in the United States have clearly no idea as to how real the Iranian threat is to Israel.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the new national director of the ADL, issued a statement, calling Huckabee’s comments invoking the Holocaust “completely out of line and unacceptable.”

“Israeli military and security officials have repeatedly said the Obama Administration has been as strong as any other American administration in keeping Israel secure,” Greenblatt wrote.

It is evident that Greenblatt never lived in Israel. That Greenblatt never served in our security forces. That Greenblatt’s children were never threatened by Iranian suicide bombers and tons of weapons they attempt to deliver to Hamas and Hezbollah.

We agree with Greenblatt that the US Congress and the US Department of Defense have helped keep Israel secure. The US Congress and the DOD are not the White House.

One must only wonder out loud, has Jonathan Greenblatt been briefed by Israel’s Ministry of Defense? If not, why not? And if Greenblatt has not been briefed, then we place the ignorance of his comments not at his new ADL New York desk but those at the MOD who should know to trust and inform our friends.

Jonathan, the threat is real.

Iran, if not detered from being able to produce nuclear weapons and providing billions of dollars to Hamas and Hezbollah, does constitute a real time threat of Holocaust proportions to Israel.

Israel is counting on the US Congress to do the right thing.
If not, Israel and her neighbors in the Middle East reserve the right to defend themselves from the lethal results of Obama’s appeasment policy.

It was not Huckabee who first said the word Holocaust – it was and is the Iranian goverment:

Huckabee appeared on Fox News today and one of the co-hosts, Geraldo Rivera, stated that he was Jewish and that people do not use the word Holocaust. Huckabee responded: “Why do we have the Yad Veshem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Holocaust museums in New York and Washington? We have them to never forget. We have them to say never again. I am saying never again!”

New York, NY — July 22, 2015 … Over 15, ooo protestors lined New York’s Time Square this evening denouncing a deal which would give Iran nuclear weapons.

The STOP IRAN RALLY coalition, which attracted a large Jewish and Christian presence, released the following statement:

“Today, at 5:30 PM in New York City, Times Square became ground zero for the start of a national 60-day campaign to block the Iran nuclear accords,” said Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, one of the rally’s volunteer coordinators.

“The STOP IRAN Rally marks the first day of a sustained campaign that will target every senator and congressman who refuses to support an override of the expected presidential veto of Congressional disapproval.”

Wiesenfeld continued: “Thousands of Americans, from all faith traditions, political interests, and communities, hundreds of whom came from around the country, stood in Times Square today to make their opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal known and to demand that Congress vote down the deal.”

Other protests will follow in major states, cities and congressional districts where representatives refuse to pass a resolution of disapproval or vote to override the President’s threatened veto.

“Today’s STOP IRAN Rally is just the beginning, but it marks the bipartisan and ecumenical representation of the scope and breadth of American opposition to this deal that has crossed every single red line committed to by the President and his advisers,” Wiesenfeld said.

Speakers at the STOP IRAN Rally in Times Square included two-dozen prominent politicians, terrorism and legal scholars, journalists, and former military leaders, all united in opposition to the Iran deal:

The release of four American hostages being held in Iran were not part of the deal, something at which critics addressed.

Those hostages are Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, pastor Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine Corp sergeant, and Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent.

“We don’t even get our four hostages back,” said George Pataki., former governor of New York and a current presidential candidate. “We get a piece of paper from a regime that has never honored its word.”

Former Florida Congressman and army veteran Col. Allen West was enraged over the Iran nuclear deal. The Republican strongly criticized President Barack Obama’s leadership on the issue, calling him a “weakling” and “charlatan.”

West asked the crowd of thousands “what message” the United States is sending by negotiating with the “number one state sponsor of terrorism” and a country that is holding “four Americans hostage.”

“No different than the last time we had a weakling in the White House when we had 52 Americans being held hostage,” he added, referring to the Iranian hostage crisis during the Jimmy Carter administration.

“I want President Obama to know one thing,” West said. “You may say that you have done something that no one else has done. You know why no one else has done it? Because it’s a damn stupid thing you just did.”

He continued: “If people are upset because of what I’m saying, I really don’t care. Because I had a father that stood at World War II…I gave 22 years of my life to make sure that that great beacon of liberty, freedom and democracy continues to stand. And I have a nephew, I have friends that are still serving on the front lines — and my commitment is to the oath that I took on 31, July, 1982, to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

The Iran nuclear deal would allow Iran, whose leaders continue to chant “death to America, death to Israel”, to have nuclear weapons within 10 years. It would also provide over 150 billion dollars to Iran which continues to fund both the Hamas and Hezbollah terror groups.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his objections to the recently announced Iran nuclear deal during a meeting with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, making clear he has no intention of backing away from a fight with the White House.

The tension was evident from the moment Netanyahu greeted Carter at his office in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu, at the start of a separate meeting Tuesday with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, said he told Mr. Carter that “the deal with Iran poses grave threats to Israel and the Middle East, to Europe and the world.” He called it a “historic mistake.”

Scholar and Democrat Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor, appealed to fellow liberals to side with Republican opposition.

“It is a bad deal for Democrats. It is a bad deal for liberals. I am here opposing this deal as a liberal Democrat,” he said.

Dershowitz called the deal bad for America, bad for world peace and bad for the security of the Middle East.

The Republican majority Congress has 60 days to review the deal.

The Congress can pass a motion of disapproval, but President Barack Obama can then veto that. An override of the veto requires two-thirds approval in both the House and Senate.

Jerusalem, Israel — July 15, 2015 … There are five reasons why Israel’s children reject Obama’s and the EU’s nuclear deal with Iran.

1. The deal allows Iran to maintain it’s nuclear program. My mommy and daddy told us that they burn American and Israeli flags in the Iran. Is that true?

2. If inspectors want to check Iranian nuclear sites they must give almost a month’s notice to do so. Isn’t that enough time for the Iranian scientists to play hide and seek. We love hide and seek but not with nuclear bombs.

3. Over 150 billion dollars will be given to Iran. Doesn’t Iran own Hamas and Hezbullah? Doesn’t Iran have soldiers in Iraq, Sudan, Yemen and Lebanon? Will that money go to pay the salaries of soldiers and terrorists? Will that money pay for weapons and bombs that will be used against me?

4. Iran will be able to produce nuclear weapons in a few years. They will be able to buy and sell all kinds of weapons. They can start to finish building intercontinental ballistic missiles which can murder my family in Europe and in America.

5. We don’t like hearing air raid sirens, getting on the floor and covering our heads. We want to live in peace and security. President Obama’s children have security, don’t they? Why can’t we?

Jerusalem, Israel — July 14, 2015 … Just when one thought that the Middle East could not deteriorate any further, Obama pens an agreement with Iran. At the time that Obama and Iran agreed that the Islamic terror state could keep their nuclear program and receive 18 billion dollars as an award, rockets from Hamas in Gaza were slamming Israel. Protestors in Iran are chanting death to America.

Let’s try to understand this.

As you read these words, Iranian backed Hamas is launching rockets at Israel and Obama is giving Iran the money to attack Israel.

Are you confused? One would ask: “Isn’t Israel and the US allies? Strong allies?”

It will be several years after Obama leaves the White House that the Iranians will be permited to have nukes. But in that time, what other nations in the Middle East will be forced to acquire nuclear weapons?

Is Obama making the Middle East a safer or more dangerous place?

Sure, under his term as President it appears that he is creating a peace agreement. But that agreement is no different than Chamberlain’s appeasement agreement with Hitler. It bought a few years and then Hitler took over Europe. Millions died. Millions were gassed and burned in ovens.

The Jews of Israel are the not Jews of Europe. One Holocaust was enough.

Iran, which threatens to wipe Israel off the map, will be addressed by Israel. Israel was not a part of these negotiations. Israel was not a part of an appeasement which threatens every Western democracy.

Obama does not get it. He can allow Iran and Islamic Jihad to threaten the US, but Jews in Israel will not, cannot accept a second Holocaust. Obama has threatened to shoot down Israeli aircraft if they attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilites. Will that stop Israel and other states in the Middle East in preventing a nuclear Holocaust?

Is Obama declaring war on Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia?

Hours after the Iran nuclear and sanctions agreement was signed, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued the following statement:

“The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday.

The leading international powers have bet our collective future on a deal with the foremost sponsor of international terrorism. They’ve gambled that in ten years’ time, Iran’s terrorist regime will change while removing any incentive for it to do so. In fact, the deal gives Iran every incentive not to change.

In the coming decade, the deal will reward Iran, the terrorist regime in Tehran, with hundreds of billions of dollars. This cash bonanza will fuel Iran’s terrorism worldwide, its aggression in the region and its efforts to destroy Israel, which are ongoing.”

“Amazingly, this bad deal does not require Iran to cease its aggressive behavior in any way. And just last Friday, that aggression was on display for all to see.

While the negotiators were closing the deal in Vienna, Iran’s supposedly moderate President chose to go to a rally in Tehran and at this rally, a frenzied mob burned American and Israeli flags and chanted ‘Death to America, Death to Israel!’

Now, this didn’t happen four years ago. It happened four days ago.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, said on March 21 that the deal does not limit Iran’s aggression in any way. He said: ‘Negotiations with the United States are on the nuclear issue and on nothing else.’

And three days ago he made that clear again. ‘The United States’, he said, ’embodies global arrogance, and the battle against it will continue unabated even after the nuclear agreement is concluded.’

Here’s what Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Iran’s terrorist proxy Hezbollah, said about sanctions relief, which is a key component of the deal. He said: ‘A rich and strong Iran will be able to stand by its allies and friends in the region more than at any time in the past.’

Translation: Iran’s support for terrorism and subversion will actually increase after the deal.

In addition to filling Iran’s terror war chest, this deal repeats the mistakes made with North Korea.

There too we were assured that inspections and verifications would prevent a rogue regime from developing nuclear weapons.

And we all know how that ended.

The bottom line of this very bad deal is exactly what Iran’s President Rouhani said today: ‘The international community is removing the sanctions and Iran is keeping its nuclear program.’

By not dismantling Iran’s nuclear program, in a decade this deal will give an unreformed, unrepentant and far richer terrorist regime the capacity to produce many nuclear bombs, in fact an entire nuclear arsenal with the means to deliver it.

History Repeats Itself.Chamberlain / Obama = Hitler / Rouhani

What a stunning historic mistake!

Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran and Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction.

We will always defend ourselves.”

One must ask one question after witnessing the White House sign an agreement that arms the enemies of her allies.

How can Obama defend and provide security for Israel when he turns his back on his own citizens?

Jerusalem, Israel — July 7, 2015 … In welcoming Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to Jerusalem, Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu stated: “We are allies in the struggle against the terrorism of militant Islam that afflicts the entire region. It afflicts not only the Middle East and Israel; it afflicts obviously just about every country in the world.”

Netanyahu continued: “Recently we saw an Iranian-Hezbollah terror cell uncovered in Cyprus that had reportedly five tons of ammonium nitrate in one apartment. That’s roughly the amount that took down the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.”

“That’s just one apartment. But this terror network expands to over 30 countries in many continents and we have just received a report of another Iranian terror cell operating in Jordan that was uncovered. This is one source of the terrorism, the militant Shiites.”

“The second is of course the militant Sunnis, led by ISIS. And then we have a common battle with the moderate Arab countries and so many others who seek to remove the scourge. I hope that we can discuss today all these issues – our bilateral issues, our ability to enhance our cooperation in many, many fields.”

“And these are challenging times. They are challenging times also because today we face the possibility that a deal will be signed with Iran, which is the foremost state-sponsor of terrorism in the world. This deal, as far as we can see, comes on almost daily concessions from the P5+1 to growing Iranian demands.”

“Every day, more concessions are made and every day the deal becomes worse and worse. I could say that what we see in Vienna is not a breakthrough, but more like a breakdown, a breakdown of the principles that the P5+1 committed itself to uphold in the Lausanne negotiations.”

Netanyahu concludes: “This deal will pave Iran’s path to a nuclear arsenal. It will give them a jackpot of hundreds of billions of dollars with which to continue to fund their aggression and terror – aggression in the region, terror throughout the world. It’s something that I think we should work against because when you have such a bad deal that resembles more and more the deal with North Korea, the conclusion is simple.”

“It’s been said before by many leaders and I’ll say it again now: Better no deal than this very bad deal. That too affects all our countries. We need to cooperate to seek stability, security, peace and prosperity. And these are the subjects that I look forward to discussing with you and so many other things.”

Just hours before a July 7 deadline, Iran and six world powers said they would not extend a deadline but they would keep working toward a deal over Iran’s nuclear program for the next few days.

Iran and the so-called P5+1, which consists of the U.K., China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – are saying they will not be pressured into accepting a bad deal.

“The Iranians want the ballistic missile sanctions lifted. They say there is no reason to connect it with the nuclear issue, a view that is difficult to accept,” an unnamed Western official told Reuters. “There’s no appetite for that on our part.”

New York — July 3, 2015 … Civil liberty advocates are jumping all over New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s order to “review” all of Donald Trump’s city contracts because of his recent comments on Mexican immigrants.

“This is not the American Way,” observed Alan Dershowitz, Harvard’s most distinguished civil liberties law professor, about the chilling effect de Blasio’s action could have on freedom of speech.

“De Blasio seems to put himself directly, squarely in conflict with the First Amendment,” he told TheDCNF in an interview.

At his presidential campaign kickoff, Trump said immigrants from Mexico are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.”

Thursday, de Blasio shot back, saying “Donald Trump’s remarks were disgusting and offensive, and this hateful language has no place in our city.”

But his press secretary went a step further, saying the city was reviewing all of Trump’s contracts. Now civil liberties advocates are striking back at the mayor’s proposed action, which Dershowitz said was “plainly unconstitutional.”

They point to a landmark 1996 Supreme Court ruling that overwhelmingly declared it was unconstitutional to tie governmental contracts to a person’s beliefs.

“The city says, ‘We don’t want to renew it because we don’t like your speech.’ That would presumptively violate the First Amendment,” noted UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh in a DCNF interview. “The statement by the Mayor is a real danger to public debate,” he said, charging it would set dubious precedent for all city contractors, big and small.

The law professor, who also posts the “Volokh Conspiracy” blog on the Washington Post, explained that the First Amendment rights for government contractors were long ago resolved in the Umbehr case. In a 7 to 2 majority written by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s, the court declared that the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech shielded government contractors from facing the revocation of existing contracts due to things they said in public.

The case involved a county contractor in Kansas who was fired because of his frequent public criticism of a county board. The Supreme Court said the county had infringed on his First Amendment right to freedom of speech when they retaliated by terminating his contract.

The high court stated, “The First Amendment protects independent contractors from the termination or prevention of automatic renewal of at-will government contracts in retaliation for their exercise of the freedom of speech.”

Dershowitz agreed, telling TheDCNF, “He would have a fairly open and shut case if they deprived him of any contract.”

Aside from the legal issues, de Blasio may also opened the door to public relations deluge by threatening to revoke specific city contracts Trump holds. The mayor’s own procurement policy board states that if a contract is to be terminated, the contractor can demand a public hearing to protest. The policy provides Trump the opportunity to publicly eviscerate de Blasio in a highly visible, legal setting.

“All persons attending who desire to testify shall have the opportunity to do so,” the board notes in its policy rules, which were updated in May 2014 during de Blasio’s current tenure.

The Trump Organization operates several city concessions, including a golf course, ice skating rink and carousel, according to Fox News.

Fox News reports that Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point Park opened in April in the Bronx. The presidential candidate’s company has a 20-year concession agreement to operate the facility.

Volokh says that the mayor’s action won’t be much of a financial threat to Trump, who has $4.1 billion in net worth, according to Forbes. Instead, Volokh worries, it sends a message to smaller vendors.

“If the city gets away with cancelling the Trump contract, it sends a message to these kinds of small contractors, saying ‘hey, it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous to say things on these topics when you’re contracting with the city of New York,” the civil liberties advocate said.

Dershowitz agrees. “He should have attacked him on the merits,” he said. “But to take away his contracts is to misuse the power of government to stifle free speech. And that’s just not the American Way.”

As Trump stands up for the US advocating more jobs and secure borders, the American Jewish community has created their own group supporting Donald Trump. The group can be found at www.Jews4Trump.com.